Accumulated nonsense from one arrow's journey through time and space

April 2008

04/28/2008

"Let us now imagine a person who is fully in contact with her own feelings and memories. She did not accept blindly her ideas and principles, but gathered them bit by bit, by reflection and conscious choice. She knows what really counts in her life and fights to achieve it. She faces frustration and pain with courage. Such a person has the prime material needed to be loyal. She has substance.

"In face, there is really no such thing as a person without substance. But many people do not know, recognize, or respect the value they have inside them. This is because they have been hurt and prefer to live superficially, where they are less likely to be seriously hurt. These people easily change their minds with fashion or circumstance. Their relations are short-lived because the are based mainly on private gain. They are opportunistic.

"This is not a question of good versus bad, but rather of strong versus fragile. Some individuals have retained their integrity, and for them it is natural to be faithful and trustworthy. They know how they feel, what they want, and what they believe in. Their loyalty has roots in fertile ground, and grows from clarity and inner strength.

"People who are not loyal find it terrifying to look into their own feelings-- they are afraid of what they might see. To have their own ideas is frightening; they would expose themselves too much. Their self-esteem is too low, so they have to survive like beggars, asking for support here and there, wherever they may find it. They lack security and character, therefore it is much harder for them to be loyal.

"When we lose the strength to take a risk and to commit ourselves, we live on the surface. Our life is chaotic and senseless" (Ferrucci 210).

Ferrucci, Piero. The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life. 2006. Tarcher/Penguin.

Forgive the citation-- it's been a while since I've had to write a paper and I'm too lazy to look for my style book.

04/27/2008

On Good Friday, my mom was driving down the service road, as always, and spotted a St. Cyril of Jerusalem sign hanging on a small office building just a few hours from our house. What are the odds? It's just an office-- regular old office space with white walls and gross fluorescent lighting... and an alter and icons and lots of candles and that wonderful aroma of myrrh...

We just got back from the midnight Easter service. There were about 30 or so people there from all nationalities (<3), complete with a slightly tone-deaf choir and crying babies who were beyond tired. We ducked out after two hours. This was the first time I had ever heard a service in English (verdict: eww) and I look forward to possibly finding an Orthodox church that sings in a (ANY) Slavonic language.

04/19/2008

Up until today, I was under the impression that this was true in all cases. As you mature, you learn from your mistakes and discover ways to do things better the next time. It turns out that this does not apply to romance.

You would think that a twice-married and twice-divorced fifty-something woman would have figured out how to hit on guys by this point in her life. After all, two of her daughters are in college and tell her all about their love lives expecting her to impart her motherly advice on what they should do. Today should have been a lesson in how mature people go about these things in a non-awkward and effective way.

Scene: TM competition

Actors: J (the hunted), C (the huntress), myself

"So Archer, what can you tell me about J? Is he single? Does he have kids? What are his hobbies? What are th-"

"Whoa whoa wait, what? C... why are you asking me?"

"You're in the same club! You see him every week! Does he like kids? Do you think he's seeing anyone? Can you get me his e-mail address? I want to send him an e-mail after this that's like "um hi, we met at the competition this weekend aaaaand I really enjoyed your speech. Your topic was very touching and I'd love to hear about it over coffee sometime...."

"JUST GO TALK TO HIM"

"Oh no, I can't do THAT... yet"

Let's see here... J is not interested in anyone and has been a bachelor all his life. C has had two marriages and four kids. J is a workaholic. C is the most relaxed and laid back PhD ever. While giving her presentation, C gravitated to J and completely ignored the rest of the audience. During his speech, J engaged everyone in the audience except for C.

Guess who gets to play matchmaker? Me. How did I even get involved with this? Wrong place at the wrong time? Can I honestly give out poor J's contact information to C without feeling like I'm throwing the poor guy to the lions? Can't C take a hint?

Well how about that. It seems that these things don't change with age.
Judging by these two, things are just as awkward as they are for the
relatively inexperienced 20-somethings, who are only slightly smarter
than their junior high counterparts.

Is this refreshing or slightly disheartening? On the one hand, it's
comforting to know that my friends and I aren't the only ones who don't
know what we're doing. It's great to know that kind of excitement will
always exist. It's also nice to know that people who are this clueless
can manage to get married and raise families.

On the other hand, maybe
the chances of finding a mature late-twenties guy who isn't a complete
moron about these things is slimmer than I originally anticipated.

04/18/2008

If you choose not to settle you're usually in for a long wait. Keep your fingers crossed for me, friends. I should hear back from them in a little over a week.

A friend from high school is also interviewing right now, but for a very different position. She's now a pastor's wife and therefore the rest of her life will be dedicated to church activities. This is all well and good. The part that's a little upsetting is the job that she's interviewing for this week. It's a church type organization that works to "spread the good news" to Muslims. Hallelujah, yay Jesus!

Now... ok. What part of this seems like a good idea? You can't just go to a group of people and basically say "Hi, your religion is wrong, your culture is wrong, we're right because the book we base our beliefs on says we're right and the one you base your beliefs on is wrong. Convert! We're only doing this because we love you and want to save your souls."

I really want some other religion to go try and convert them with the same argument just to see how they would feel.

It's quite possible for different religions to peacefully coexist. Just because you've found one that's right for you doesn't mean that everyone else is wrong and doesn't give you the right to go around trying to change everyone else's minds so that they'll agree with you. That's probably the MOST ARROGANT AND DISRESPECTFUL thing a person could do. It's horrible when people do it in political/policy debates or something completely pointless and stupid like TV shows, but something as personal as religion? As a person's entire value system? All of their beliefs? There's no excuse for that.

Why can't she get a job teaching little kiddies at Sunday school? Or maybe an after school daycare? Bible studies? Why would she want to put her efforts into helping those who don't really need/want help instead of developing the people within her own community?

04/12/2008

Issue 1: it's sexist Issue 2: it implies that women can't/shouldn't get an educationIssue 3: of COURSE it's an arts degree... of courseIssue 4: it brings up the whole career v. staying at home with the kids dilemma

Something tells me that this topic would have never come up back when this strip was started 40+ years ago and it really pisses me off that they're bringing it up now.

"Feelings are not an irritating variable but a great richness that allows us to know things we never even imagined. The heart has its reasons that reason knows not. Knowledge of the heart gives us the chance to know others, not as statistical data or lifeless puppets but as vibrant beings, full of hopes and dreams. Knowledge of the heart is instinctive, direct, wordless."

The Power of Kindness-- the Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life. By Piero Ferrucci.